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Here We Go

Pagerunner

Entry posted by Pagerunner

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Hey, I've made a blog, and it has a very specific purpose in mind. I'm been toying around with creating my own Word of Brandon database for about a year to collect cosmere-related tidbits, and I finally got the ball rolling in some key ways and like what's going on with it. I'm gonna try and use this blog to make monthly updates, for two reasons:

  1. Structured updates are a great way to make sure I keep working on a project, and if anyone's interested in following/helping it can give them an eye into what I'm doing.
  2. Talking something out often helps me in problem solving, so I might post a problem I'm having just to air it out, even if I don't actually expect to get any help. (It's the way I theorize, as well.)

So, scope of the project.

  • Phase 1 was building a structure that, first and foremost, can assist with theorizing. I had toyed around with Microsoft Excel, or using a wiki (like actually on the Coppermind), but I settled on a Microsoft Access database. I like the way it's letting me use tags and searches, and I've got a database structure that really works for me to parse WoBs in many different ways and potentially provide a lot of end-user functionality. I won't go into detail yet about the structure and what I would like the interfaces to look like; for now, I have tables and relationships arranged the way I like, and a good data entry sheet that allows me to efficiently add, source, and tag WoBs. I'll worry about getting the data out of Access later on.
  • Phase 2 is data collection. Theoryland is going to be incredibly useful, but I'm focusing right now on the stuff that they don't have, Brandon's social media. We've got years of Twitter and Reddit backlogs, which I'd like to get in a format that is concise and removes the *chaff* of status updates and fan interactions. (I actually really enjoy reading them, don't get me wrong, but this database is supposed to be a theorizing tool, so they don't belong here.) The only way to do this is go through, manually, and copy-paste each quote into the database and add tags. It's somewhat slow going, but right now, I can go faster than 1 per minute when I'm focused. (Most of the time, I'll be eating or watching football, so it doesn't have my 100% attention.). Right now, Phase 2a is Reddit, Phase 2b is Twiter, Phase 2c is Theoryland.
  • Phase 3 is publication, and will probably begin during Phase 2b. It will be investigating how to share this database. I'm not doing this just for myself (although I do enjoy reading through WoBs, and have actually learned a lot from the little work I've done on actual data collection), I'd like to make the database available in some form to everyone. However, I don't know if most people will have Microsoft Access, and there's no free online version like Word, Excel, etc., so I'll have to do some research in ways to 1) get the database in a form I can share and 2) make useful ways to quickly and efficiently execute searches.
  • Phases 4, 5, and 6... I have ideas that go beyond WoBs, to include cross-referencing with theories and questions. But they won't be useful without Phase 3, and they would need community buy-in, so let's cross that bridge if we get there.

Right now, I'm beginning work on Phase 2. (I have a little bit of rework on Phase 1, but it should be easy, I'm just creating a couple new tag categories.) I'll mostly be working on Reddit, but I'll be jumping around, since I am actively using the database as well and would like to get the AU tours in. My monthly progress updates will be against 3 metrics: Reddit Progress, Twitter Progress, and Theoryland Progress.

  • Reddit, I unfortunately don't have a goalpost, since I don't know how many posts Brandon has made, but I'm steadily working backwards. So, this metric will be how far back I have gone in. I will be including new posts he makes, probably on a daily basis, and then going back to the archive.
  • Twitter, there are 93 months of backlog. His assistant Adam maintains Tweet Archives, which is going to be unbelievably helpful, so I'll mostly be adding tags. I'll be staying up-to-date, so this metric will be months of backlog I have gone through. This will probably go in chronological order, start at the beginning and go forwards, and should go pretty quick, since it seems it's promotional links and status updates that are mostly on Twitter, as opposed to the deeper questions on Reddit.
  • Theoryland, I'm cataloging how many of their entries are relevant to the cosmere. I want to have numbers and links, in case anyone actually wants to help, so I'm gonna do a quick review to get the actual number of Theoryland interviews (not actual entries, but signing/interview entries) that have relevance to the cosmere. My rough estimate is that they have 600 interviews with Brandon; likely, many of them either are author-related stuff (no cosmere bits) or Wheel of Time related, so the actual number of sources I'll have in my database will be smaller. And I don't want to use Theoryland as a primary source (except for signing reports that literally don't exist anywhere else), but try to go directly to the Signings forum here. But, first things first, I need to see how many of them I'll be drawing from.

So, here's my first progress update:

  • Reddit, Nov 2016
  • Twitter, 0/93
  • Theoryland, 0/600?

So, yeah, no idea how long I think this will take me. I would like to get onto Phase 3 before Oathbringer is released, but I literally have no experience in judging this. So, we'll see. And welcome along for the ride!

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Jofwu

There may be a better way to make your database accessible online, but I do know you can put together something that works with Microsoft Access Runtime, which is free. People would download the runtime and then use it to open your updated database.

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Pagerunner
20 hours ago, jofwu said:

There may be a better way to make your database accessible online, but I do know you can put together something that works with Microsoft Access Runtime, which is free. People would download the runtime and then use it to open your updated database.

Hey, that might be exactly what I'm looking for! I suspect people would be more comfortable if everything was in a web browser, but everything I can find with a free tier has data transfer limits and branding. (And it's free, so I don't blame them).  A runtime disables the design views, which an end user shouldn't use anyways, so I think it will transfer over all the functionality I want. Thanks!

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